🦞🤩 It’s giving MAINE character energy

Happy Saturday, B-Siders!

🤌 A $25 North End food crawl? Now THAT’S amore. It’s true! We love our members so much that we got you a SWEET deal for this North End food crawl on July 12 (it’s normally $90!). On the menu: The best pastas, seafood, pastries, and (obv) cannoli. Become a member or start a free trial below to get a spot (just check your perks page for the link) — there are only 12 tix available!

🎸 Plus, our $900 value music festival giveaway is still live! Enter to win a pair of 2-day VIP Tickets to Levitate Music Festival ($898 value!) with Stick Figure, The Revivalists, Dispatch, and more. To enter, refer a friend to B-Side below.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Don’t miss this boat day deal

• $10 pasta makes us holla

• The best Boston bites

Up first…

B-SIDE GUIDE

New summer day trip unlocked

No car? No problem. We get it: Half the battle of a day trip is figuring out how to get there. So we’re scratching that off your to-do list entirely with our new-and-improved car-free day trip series.

First stop: Portland, Maine

🚌 Hot take: The bus > the train. Hear us out: The ride from South Station is just two hours and $44 round trip (while the train is nearly three and easily runs you $60). And pro-tip: Skip the Uber to get downtown — there’s a free bus from Portland station that takes you right to the Old Port!

🥐 Pastry crawl your way through the Old Port. Portland’s award-winning bakery scene is bursting at the seams (making it low-key overwhelming). These are the hot new bombshells, the cult classics, and the old reliables you should start with:

• ZUbakery. It just won the 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery and knows its way around a flaky pastry. Get a croissant or a palmier!

• Standard Baking Co. Beloved by tourists and locals, bread is the star here. But we’re big fans of the morning bun and pecan chocolate chip cookie.

• The Holy Donut: These gourmet morsels are made with potato flour, giving them a distinct flavor and fluffy texture. Our pick: The dark chocolate sea salt doughnut is BEYOND.

The rest of this exclusive B-Side Guide is for the premium members who support our journalism. If you start a 14-day trial, you’ll be able to continue reading at bside.beehiiv.com!

🤑 Plus, members gain access to 60 Boston-area perks like:

• $100 of your upcoming move with Stairhopper Movers and $300 off your broker’s fee with Apartment Advisor

• $40 off your first massage at Squeeze Boston

• FREE TICKETS on Wednesdays and Sundays at The Comedy Studio

• 25% off event tickets at Aeronaut Brewing 

• 5+ new perks and local event discounts every month that cover the cost of your membership … and then some.

  Get your perks!

👀 Additionally, our members get access to curated Boston Globe content every Saturday — paywall-free. This week, those free Boston Globe articles include:

• NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has a surprising role model: Boston’s Michelle Wu

• No, this likely isn’t the start of WWIII. But here’s what to watch next and how it all can impact you.

• Six tips and tricks to being an awesome wedding guest

• We are having a candy moment

• Like any teenager, Boston Calling could benefit from some soul-searching

• These are the celebs who are attending Jeff Bezos’ Venice wedding

• You probably don’t need foods with added protein, nutritionists say

• ‘Less burnout, more babies’: How conservatives are winning young women

• Is this the end of Karen Read’s ordeal? Is an investigation into the death of John O’Keefe ongoing? We answered your questions about the outcome of the case.

  Start a 14-day free trial!

💭 Have specific feedback you’d like to share? Book time with us here! Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter.